So how can you keep your message fresh without flooding the market with coupons? Consider the marketing mix, then consider your editorial calendar. Then combine the two.

• Facebook and Twitter reach a particular audience and have their uses.
• FourSquare offers a way to reach new audiences.
• Coupons and flyers to targeted audiences (complementary audiences) tailor your message.
• Standing ad buys in local magazines or (very) local newspapers can be altered.
• Facebook, online ads, and search engine marketing can be altered regularly.
• Email is not dead and is still a good delivery channel (btw, can your customers read your message or is all your copy hidden in pretty pictures?).

Whatever your mix, make sure you get enough frequency of message to be effective (more money is wasted by underspending on advertising than on overspending).

Next, consider your editorial calendar. It’s easier to come up with messages in advance, but sometimes they’ll just happen.

• Do Texas Hold ‘Em Night if you must, it’s better than doing nothing, but consider widening your options.
• Host a Toys for Tots drop off during the holidays (this is PR worthy also).
• Choose off-beat ‘holidays’ (think National Bald Day – emails, tweets, FB posts will get forwarded and re-posted).
• Limited Time Offers can be a pain in the butt. But if you have seasonal menus they’re a great kick-off to each season. If you source locally, you can usually get deals on different items each week. They’re well worth it if you condition customers to expect new items.
• LTO’s don’t have to be limited to items that aren’t typically on your menu. Highlight an old favorite, especially if its an app and serves as a loss-leader.
• Plan a community event calendar of your own. The work has already been done for you, just choose the ones that your customers are most interested in and plan in advance. If you promote their event to your customers, they’ll likely reciprocate.
• If you have nothing else to say, give a shout out to some of your customers. “Bill M. bowled a 300 last Tuesday; Sherry S. walked 60 miles for breast cancer; Local firefighter, Tom W., was recognized by the Mayor.” If you don’t know this stuff, why not? Chat your customers up, create a dialog via Facebook.

Then you simply take this month’s message and plug it into each of your monthly channels. Incorporate an offer (one that modifies behavior) for your local flyers and all of a sudden you have a 12 month marketing plan. And you’ll always be sure you have something to say.

How many restaurant Facebook pages and Twitter feeds have been abandoned by their owners after just a couple of posts? Or go 6 months between offers?

If the menu hasn’t changed much, and you aren’t running a special, and you don’t do much in the way of community events…either you or your customers is bored of your message. Probably both of you are.

The most obvious solution to this is the proliferation of “holiday” coupons. Holiday is in quotes because a) they’re of the Hallmark variety or b) they have next to no correlation to your business, it just happens to be celebrated in the current month.

(Did you take advantage of that “Buy two dinners, get a free drink” coupon by taking your fiance to Golden Corral in February? Did you sleep on the couch because the Mother’s Day gift you got your wife was dinner at Piccadilly?)

The next most obvious solution is some mediocre discount that neither alters customer behavior (try a new item on the menu) nor provides much of an incentive (10% off? really?).

If you’re gonna go the holiday route, get creative. Make it buzz worthy. Nobody forwards 4th of July specials because, well, no one goes out to eat on the 4th of July.

Check back later in the week for some suggestions in building a conversation.

IHOP to host free pancake day, March 1.

But the buzz surrounding this idea, and the goodwill generated for collecting donations, are most certainly worth it. I’ll bet you a short stack they have excellent sales as well.

What’s not to like?

And notice how they extended the offer to people already in line. THIS is the type of loyalty program you need.

One last point. This type of marketing can be done, via your social channels, anytime you foresee a dip in sales. If you know that your sales always go flat when it rains, and rain is forecast for the next 3 days, send an offer that is valid only if it’s raining. Or only when the temperature is below 32 degrees. Or when the HS football team has an away game.

“New marketing is about the relationships, not the medium.” – Ben Grossman

• Have a fundraiser and give a portion of the night’s proceeds to the group
• Offer to cater the group’s organizational or board meetings or allow them to meet in your restaurant during off-peak times
• Think about the MDA and their paper shamrocks – sell paper cutouts and hang them on the wall with the customer’s name
• Involve your customers – ask them to make monetary donations and match them
• Host a drive – blood drives, clothing drives, food drives, etc.

Some other restaurants that participate in charity partnerships are:

• Pizza Hut started its own effort with R.E.D. (Read Every Day) which encourages, with parent and teacher involvement, reading in pre-school and kindergarten-age kids
• Virginia-based Paisano’s is raising money for a little girl in their community that has a rare form of cancer
• Hungry Howie’s Pizza out of Michigan raised $100,000 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.

Check out the QSR Magazine site for more info and ideas.

1.  Find a charity that you want to build a long-term relationship with. Start with ones that are important to you.
2.  In most cases it’s a good idea to choose a secular organization, as not to leave anyone out. You don’t want to be controversial with your choice.
3.  Listen to your customers. What causes do they support? What do they care about? Some examples include:

• Cancer organizations, since cancer has probably touched every customer’s life. The Susan G. Komen organization is a popular choice but you also might find something more local to support.
• Most of your customers probably have pets – why not support the local Humane Society or an animal rescue group?
• Find out if your neighborhood has an after school program or independent recreation center for kids.
• It’s a natural fit to support a food for the hungry organization (soup kitchens, food banks, Meals on Wheels, etc.).

4.  Do you know of a sick child or a law officer injured in the line of duty? These are great reasons to raise funds on a temporary level, and to get to know your community on a micro level.
5.  Another temporary charity example would be the groups that have popped up since the recent earthquakes in Haiti or flooding in the Midwest.

Obviously you’ll want to make sure the charity you choose is reputable. They should be able to show you the paperwork that gives them non-profit status. They will usually have a website and official business stationery. The charity, unless brand new, might have had a fundraiser before. Ask them how it went so you know what to expect.

On the Restaurant Business magazine’s blog there’s a quote from Alyssa Prince, community relations director for the National Restaurant Association:

“Restaurants need to think of charitable involvement as a partnership rather than a sponsorship,” says Prince. “Hardly anyone just writes checks anymore. Successful partnerships can benefit both the charity and the restaurant.”

This quote comes from a thoughtful article that gives more ideas and ways to get started partnering with a charity.

“But I have tons of regulars and we talk all the time. I’m on a first name basis with a lot of them.”

Before you make the above statement, stop and think about how many you actually know. You have somewhere between 2,000 and 6,000 unique customers. How many are you friendly with? What percentage of your customers do you really know? Be honest now: you only really know the outgoing customers, don’t you?

Here are some tips to getting to know your customers better:

• Walk the tables and talk to them. “How was everything?” doesn’t count as a conversation. It’s a start, but only a start. Where were they before they came in (awards banquet, soccer practice, dentist, park, work – where do they work)? Time of day will tell you a lot, but start the conversation.
• Note: the first bullet will give you ideas as to where you should be doing your local store marketing. Get more customers who are just like your existing customers.
• Use social media (Facebook, Twitter) to give behind-the-scenes updates on the store and your staff (“new ice machine” or “Manager Bill is going to be a daddy!”).
• Ever have someone ask you to purchase an ad in a program for a school event? Ever buy tickets to that event and attend, or give them to employees for a job well done? You’d be surprised at how appreciative all of those influencers are of your support.
• Surprise guests with a little lagniappe (a “little something extra”). A koozie, coupon, or dessert at the table gets them thinking about their next visit before their current one is even finished. That’s where word of mouth comes from.
• Think of the amazing experiences (not just mediocre, or adequate) you’ve had at other restaurants, hotels, dry cleaners, or other retail places. What made it amazing? How can you replicate that feeling?

Marketing-wise, these tactics will build frequency, and create word of mouth which will bring in new customers. They’ll also open doors for catering, marketing events, and other influencers. Plus, it makes your job more fun. Beats cleaning toilets, eh?

But it’s no time for a breather. It’s time to gather new customers from restaurants that didn’t make it, get into the rotation of others, and position yourself as a solution for other buying decisions to existing customers.

The Disenfranchised
Keep on eye on local competition (especially similar concepts) that are struggling. The signs are there: fewer staff during busy times, dining room not bussed so often, charging for condiments, etc. Heck, check them out on Yelp or other review sites.

If their customers are complaining, they’re open to alternatives.

Get on the Short List
Use your unique selling proposition to get into customers’ restaurant rotation. We usually go to the same 2, 3, or 4 places for lunch (often based solely on convenience). Dinner is more situational: we go here for take-out, here when friends are in town, this place for a quiet night out, and always there for special locations.

Get into the rotation by increasing party size or being aggressive within a half mile radius (especially for lunch – folks won’t pass a lot of places to get to you when they’re hungry). Once you have them, WOW them.

The Ignorant
I don’t mean stupid, just that not all of your customers know all that you do. They chose you because you satisfied a need and, as long as you’re good, they’ll keep you in their rotation.

But lunch customers can be dinner customers. Dine-in need to try carry-out. Business lunchers socialize at night.

So while some operators are resting now that customers appear to be back, the channels are clear for you to start advertising, wooing influencers, and gaining market share.

Do it now and you’ll be in a better position if the economy turns again. Even better if it really is back.

• Charity/volunteering – Volunteering makes everyone feel good. Adopt a local charity and offer employees comp time or other benefits for helping out. (From the field: one day per month the employees choose a cause and donate the entire day’s tips to that cause. A sign by the tip jar says something like: “Our staff will donate all of today’s tips to the Reynolds Library renovation.” They’ve also helped local fire fighters injured in the line of duty, high school kids with sickness, and charities that mean something to an individual employee.)
• Rewards, public recognition – Besides the basic benefits of the job, what else can you offer your star employees? Gift cards are a good choice. Try to recognize at least one person either weekly or monthly. Let customers know your employee is a superstar.
• Family atmosphere – Keep your environment light and friendly. Yes, you’re here to do a job, but you should have fun while doing it. The best teams are close-knit and help each other.
• Get outside the restaurant – If possible, take your employees off company property to get to know each other better. This might be going to the park for a game of soccer or basketball, or grabbing a few drinks at the neighborhood pub after work.
• Give opportunities to learn other tasks – Show your employees that you want them to succeed. Train them on different stations in your restaurant. Reward them every time they complete a session. Make sure they receive the right and right amount of training, even from the very beginning.
• Promote from within – Show your staff that there are opportunities for advancement by recruiting them for new positions. They’ll see that they could have an opportunity like that and will want to stick around.
• Respect & fairness – This should be a no-brainer, but treat your employees fairly. There should be no “manager’s pet.” Even if your employees are young, treat them like adults and they will act as such.
• Spend time to hire the right employees – This includes managers. We’re all had bad managers before and conflict with management is one of the top reasons for employee turnover. One idea is to require applicant testing for customer service and teamwork.

Each of these points come down to one thing: show your staff that you genuinely care about them and they will stay engaged. Good employees can be your greatest asset. For more tips, check out this article from the National Restaurant Association.